Umbrella Revolution Wall 2014

Thursday, May 5, 2011

I hate snakes.Black cobra outside our front door. I walk quickly with Keohi and then pick up the pace screaming A SNAKE!Keohi says, "I'm scared of snakes!"Mommy says, "I'm scared of snakes too!"So much for being a brave parent. Then I felt I should do something, so looked around for a stick. Then realized the snake was by our electric box by tons of wire against the wall. Still, I looked for snakes saying the whole time I HATE SNAKES. So much for instilling love of nature in my son. Then, I could not find a stick. Being so with-it in nature, what do I do? Call my husband who works in Taikoo Shing. This is about 1.5 hours from here via bike, boat, ferry. Uhm...yeah, so no answer. Then I think I have to call my friend--the one who could probably make dumplings and get rid of a snake the same time she is tending to her papaya plant. But, then I realize, by the time Kathline would come down a mountain, the snake would be gone.I call to our new neighbors. He comes with a stick, tosses the snake out in the green a little beyond our house.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Please note the following, some of which can be found on this website, some of which can be found on other reputable websites. I am putting up this post as this situation seems to be a yearly happening here. Since my arrival in 2008, there is a very big outbreak every year with plenty of people overstepping the boundaries of common courtesy. This is not directed at any individual or family, this is simply information that people might be interested in knowing.

a) 1 out of 500 children is hospitalized by chicken pox.b) If you have chicken pox, you can get shingles later in life.c) Chicken pox can result in fatalities, and can cause birth defects. d) An individual incubating chicken pox is infectious before the outbreak appears.e) It is on the US suggested childhood vaccination schedule, though not mandatory. It does not appear on the UK vaccination schedule, but is now on the Canadian schedule. There are a myriad of reasons for this potentially including the idea of private vs. public health and what vaccinations are deemed by the public authorities as utterly crucial in light of costs.f) allowing an incubating or infected individual to attend school, or go around in public, where the disease can be easily transmitted to any number of known or unknown individuals, is a matter of public health, and no longer falls under the category of "personal choice."

a) Not everyone has the same opinion about chicken pox as a benign childhood disease, and your opinions about chicken pox are usually based on your personal experience with disease, often influenced by knowledge of individuals who had chicken pox or the shingles.

b) Usually a vaccination is invented for a good reason. Yes, there is a profit motive for most major pharmaceutical companies, but if it is public health issue or concern, a vaccination is made. And there's a reason for that. The disease can have serious consequences for a select few. Laugh all you want, but if you're one of the select few, and it's easily preventable, you won't laugh. A great number of American schools now require the chicken pox vaccination. There could be economic reasons for it, but that does not mean that those economic reasons do not apply internationally (see below).

c) Many women do not reveal the status of their pregnancy to individuals they do not know. And some pregnant women do not necessarily look pregnant until much later on in their pregnancy. People with chicken pox INCUBATING can INFECT someone and cause a BIRTH DEFECT. OK, so the person is early on in the pregnancy, so no worries, that's what you think, right? But guess what, it may take months for the virus to circulate, so therefore, the person may be exposed again much later in her pregnancy--due to the virus that was first making the rounds months prior. This is how disease works. People catch it...it takes a while to make the rounds. I was working as a teacher in a secondary school during my pregnancy. I would not have appreciated incubating and infected children running around endangering my unborn child.

d) This is a correction from an earlier error--but to state correctly--shingles is a result of physical exhaustion. You cannot get shingles from chicken pox, but once you have chicken pox, you may be later vulnerable to shingles. There is an increase in the amount of shingles in portions of the population who are middle aged--then again we may have to examine the modern lifestyle in terms of work hours and general fatigue to fully ascertain the reasons as to why this might be.

e) A child with chicken pox may require a caregiver to miss work. Not everyone can financially or otherwise afford to do so. The assumption that it's a childhood disease that everyone has to have and every household simply easily deals with is not taking into account the economic status of every individual in the community. The average monthly income on Lantau Island is 10,000HKD a month. (1200USD)

f)Just as people have the option to vaccinate or not vaccinate their own child, people should also have the option not to have their child exposed to the disease if they don't want to have their child have it. If your child has the chicken pox or is incubating the chicken pox remember that is YOUR CHOICE but that you need to RESPECT DIFFERENT CHOICES, particularly when it comes to DISEASE. Respect your community. Respect choices. Respect difference. Respect public space.

That's it. Read it and pass it on. Sometimes I feel like I'm living in a goddamn time warp here. It is no longer 1990. It is 2011.

Keohi the Drummer 2009

South Lantau Fair Fall 2009

Butterflies Everywhere 2009

One of Lantau's extraordinary insects. The kind that does not leave you scratching....

Butterfly South Lantau 2009

Stunning and elusive

Green Bananas, 2009

We have to wait until they turn yellow...

Keohi and Steph in South Lantau 2009

Hiking past the gravesite. Beautiful.

I Need a Hug from Dada

Everyone feels better now

Hiking South Lantau 2009

Up the trail to Tung Chung

Baby Kaii and Katie 2009

Friends in the village

Hanging in front of the Lam's House

Helmet, ball, dinosaur undies, and slippers. Life is good.

Watermelon at the pink table 2009

I want the BIG PIECE. NO. THE BIG PIECE. Good. Finally you listened to me.

Halloween Family Pic 2009

American Halloween in Mui Wo 2009

Pirates from Luk Tei Tong

Getting ready to loot Downtown Mui Wo Halloween 2009

Halloween 2009

I'm a pirate, matey...note my matching diaper

Lawnmower Fall 2009

Mowing the lawn in my bike helmet and pink Wellies...

Keohi with sunglasses and bike--looking like Dada...

This my bike. MY BIKE.

Christian Zheng Sheng Association forum

Mui Wo gathers in the gym

Keohi and the Christian Zheng Sheng Assoc.

This is Democracy

May 2009 Keohi in Shades

Earth Tones...

Keohi, Grandma, and His Wheels

A gift from Grandma

Playtown, Kennedy Town, HK

Family Outing...Playtown!

The Hong Kong Insect Bite Index (HKIB)

The 2009 Mosquito Season officially over...sort of. November 24, 2009. The season's last mosquito killed by Stephen at 3AM.

First mosquito bite of 2009. Yup. Last night. On my back. February 5, 2009.The season begins...anticipating a wild rally in the upcoming months due to the killing of OBGB's indigenous frogs.And we have Japanese Encephalitis in our area. Isn't that swell?